Microsoft unveils more versatile Windows

MICROSOFT HAS unveiled its future software, showing off the Windows 8 operating system that will allow users to decide how to interact with their system, working with touch gestures and the traditional mouse and keyboard.

The new system will be leaner, offer better interaction between applications and bring more touch controls to the desktop, Microsoft announced at the Build conference for Microsoft developers in California yesterday.

“Things are a lot different than they were three years ago with computing, and they’re a lot, lot different than they were in 1995, the last time Windows underwent a pretty significant bold overhaul,” Windows president Steven Sinofsky said.

The new operating system will run on everything from high-powered desktops to mobile phones and tablets.

“Mobility is a whole new dimension to computing these day. Now you want devices you can use while you’re carrying them around,” Mr Sinofsky said. “A whole new way of using computing has arisen, and we want Windows to respond to that.”

The system uses the Metro style user interface, which replaces the traditional start menu and desktop view Windows users have come to expect, with a lock screen and dynamic tiles similar to those used in Windows Phone 7 to represent applications.

That doesn’t mean that Windows is ditching the desktop, however; this becomes an application users can open to run software such as Photoshop on compatible devices.

The Metro-style interface allows software writers to develop a wider range of applications that are more immersive.

The apps can use a new feature called contracts to facilitate sharing across applications, for example sending a link from a magazine application to a social networking application.

Developers will be able to sell their apps through the Windows Store, which will have a “transparent” certification process for approving the software.

“[People] don’t want their apps to stand alone, they want a web of applications,” said Mr Sinofsky. “You can think of sharing as a semantically rich clipboard.”

Describing Windows 8 as “the launch of an opportunity for developers”, Mr Sinofsky said the event was just the beginning for the operating system.

“Windows 8 is a bold re-imagining of what Windows could be,” he told the conference.